Tennessee's defense struggles to stop the run in scrimmage

Evan Woodbery

8:37 PM, Mar 29, 2014

The Tennessee football team scrimmaged at Neyland Stadium on March 29, 2014, in Knoxville. Although video was not permitted during the scrimmage, this clip includes warmup highlights, including shots of head coach Butch Jones and linebackers coach Tommy Thigpen. (Video by Evan Woodberry/News Sentinel)

Tennessee Volunteer head coach Butch Jones watches player during drills on their first day of practice in pads at their indoor practice field Thursday, Mar. 14, 2013. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

At one point late in Tennessee's scrimmage Saturday at Neyland Stadium, an exasperated Butch Jones turned to his defense and shouted, "What happens when Alabama comes in here and runs the ball?"

The question was rhetorical, and the answer unspoken: It wouldn't be pretty.

There are two sides to every assessment in a spring scrimmage.

The positive side from Saturday? A running attack that seemed to slice through the defense. The negative? A line that couldn't seem to stop it.

"This is a line of scrimmage league, and you have to be able to stop the run," said Jones in a post-practice interview that was conducted, like the scrimmage, through a persistent rain. "Overall, I wasn't pleased with our defensive front."

The situational scrimmage was long and demanding. Like the first full scrimmage two weeks ago, quarterbacks were live — meaning they were allowed to be tackled to the ground.

That format offered a chance for quarterbacks Nathan Peterman and Riley Ferguson to escape the pocket on big runs.

For the second scrimmage in a row, Justin Worley seemed to move the offense most consistently, although Ferguson played well and Peterman had his moments, too.

But all four quarterbacks were victimized by turnovers on the slippery turf.

Josh Dobbs lost his grip on the ball while running, and it squirted out without anyone touching him. Center-to-quarterback transitions were an adventure, as were quarterback-to-running back handoffs.

Worley, the senior who began last season as the starter, was enjoying a solid day until he threw an interception into the hands of safety Max Arnold, who ran it back roughly 95 yards for a touchdown.

To his credit, Worley sprinted after Arnold and was almost in position to make a tackle near the goal line.

As in the first scrimmage, much of the sloppiness seemed to occur toward the end.

"I thought, offensively, we had one of our best days moving the ball and making explosive plays," Worley said. "It's rough to play in the rain as a quarterback, but you have to push through it. Toward the end, center-to-quarterback exchanges weren't as crisp as we would have wanted them to be. It just comes with repetition."

The scrimmage concluded with a seemingly endless repetition of "overtime" snaps from the 5-yard line. The offense was tasked with reaching the end zone. The defense was told to stop them at any cost.

Although the offense had four plays, too often they needed only one. Not only did senior Marlin Lane and Jalen Hurd run over the defense, but reserves like Justus Pickett did so as well.

For the first 90 minutes, the defense seemed to handle the frantic pace of the scrimmage much better than it had two weeks earlier. But in the final "overtime" plays, the defense — and especially the front seven — looked spent.

Senior linebacker A.J. Johnson could have helped, but he was one of a handful of players who were held out or limited, in part due to the wet turf. Jones said the players huffing and puffing at the end will learn from the experience.

"You learn through repetitions. Today was a great teaching opportunity. We'll come back on Monday and correct for improvements."